


Human Nurture

by extraordinary



Category: Free!
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Canon Compliant, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-12
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2020-01-12 05:07:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18439655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extraordinary/pseuds/extraordinary
Summary: In the face of Rin's unexpectedly lacklustre response, though, Haruka's own enthusiasm soon begins to falter. At a slightly more respectable volume (and with his gaze securely locked onto a portion of the nearby side-walk), he tries: "You could have called.""Well," Rin allows. "It'd have been a little embarrassing..."And just like that, Harukaknows.





	Human Nurture

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ladyeos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyeos/gifts).



> This is a shamefully belated gift for **Ladyeos** , in which Rin is — according to Haruka, at least — an alarmingly cunning, not-quite-so-little, Omega... who just so happens to be very skilled at making everyone believe he's actually an _Alpha_. 
> 
> OK, so, my intention was for this to be a 99.9% faithful retelling of the Free! canon (including all of the original dialogue). Everything's still the same, b-but with a slightly more hormonal twist. At some point in this series, I'll probably need to veer off course (and the rating will increase accordingly), but, for now: **none of the usual ABO-related warnings apply**.
> 
> While this isn't even half of what you & your glorious prompt deserve, Eos: I really hope you'll find something in it to enjoy!! ❤

On the tail end of an otherwise unremarkable yawn, Haruka abruptly finds himself separated from Rin by nothing more than a set of striped bars and the momentarily deafening passage of a freight train.

"You're back?" Haruka half-greets, half-marvels. Loudly enough for his own voice to sound a little foreign — and disconcertingly winded, at that — to his ears. And he does so the very second his feet successfully manage to carry the rest of him across the tracks, too.

"Yeah."

In the face of Rin's unexpectedly lacklustre response, though, Haruka's own enthusiasm soon begins to falter. At a slightly more respectable volume (and with his gaze securely locked onto a portion of the nearby side-walk), he tries: "You could have called."

"Well," Rin allows. "It'd have been a little embarrassing..."

And just like that, Haruka _knows_.

 

* * *

 

In the end, it isn't the outcome of their impromptu 100-metre race that brings Rin to his knees.

No.

It's something far more _primal_.

"R-Rin," Haruka manages, somehow, right around the unwelcome lump in his throat. "There's got to be a way around — "

" — What are you mumbling about, Haru?" Rin sharply cuts in, there, with just enough vehemence to send the rest of Haruka's puny little protest scattering for cover across the freshly scrubbed tiles of the poolside deck. His nostrils are flared in an unmistakable warning. And his brand new scent — something equally distinctive (and disconcertingly _potent_ , as well) — seems to be set on filling Haruka's own. "Did you get a little too much water up your nose, or something...? You won. Fair and square." Then, seemingly for good measure, he adds: "An Omega wouldn't even be able to keep pace with you, y'know? _Ever_."

Haruka knows all of that, too. He _does_.

And yet.

 

* * *

 

Unsurprisingly, Rin plays his new role extremely well.

He says things like, _"Haru, you're still hanging out with these guys...?"_ as if there's something inherently shameful about a juvenile Alpha tolerating the company of an unclaimed Omega (and a common Beta who just so happens to be nearly twice Haruka's own size, besides). In the very same tone of voice, with all the confidence — and even the unmistakable scent, as well — of a testosterone-fuelled _Alpha_ , he promises to show Haruka just how different they've truly become now. And every single word that comes out of his mouth seems to have a multitude of possible meanings and interpretations, to boot.

Fuelled by an entirely different something-or-other, Haruka finds himself playing along surprisingly readily. And when he — inevitably, most likely — loses the race, amidst a whole slew of less important things, he doesn't feel much of anything at all. Aside from an all-encompassing, long-overdue _relief_ , that is.

"You win," He distantly hears himself congratulate, then, in spite of the raucous ringing in his ears. He's still trying to catch his breath. And his ribcage feels like it's a couple of sizes too small for his wildly beating heart, as well. "That's great, Rin."

And it is.

It really _is_.

But Rin, of course, isn't half as willing to take a bow just yet.

 

* * *

 

"What have you been doing these past three years, Haru...?" Rin sees fit to demand of him, right _there_ , in a manner so unflinchingly direct it seems to be almost completely irreconcilable with his overall posture: his hands are stuffed deep inside the pockets of his jeans, his shoulders are hunched, and he doesn't appear to be capable of looking at Haruka head-on any longer. "You're better than this."

Even so, Haruka understands what he's really being asked about. "I'm hardly better than someone who just got back from training abroad, though."

_Someone._

Anyone.

Including a rogue Omega (just like Rin). No matter what their current, Division-driven society might have to say about something like _that_.

"Are you mocking me?" Rin half-evades, half-acknowledges, as if he doesn't quite know what to make of Haruka's casually extended complicity just yet. His eyebrows are furrowed spectacularly. The corners of his mouth are equally downturned. But his gaze is locked onto Haruka's own again, now, and the look in his eyes is glaringly uncertain. _'Why aren't you mocking me yet...?!'_ , it seems to be saying so much more clearly than any other part of Rin's. _'Are you really going to let me get away with this? There's nothing in it for you, Haru.'_

Haruka doesn't hesitate. "I'm not."

_'Your secret is safe with me, Rin.'_

 

* * *

 

"So," Haruka begins, just a touch more boldly than he's truly feeling, once he's certain the rest of the team has — utterly intentionally, no doubt — pulled far enough ahead for his words not to be overheard. "You're still planning on following your dad's dream, then?"

As expected, Rin's pace doesn't even falter. " _Nah_ ," He emphatically tells the neatly pressed lines running up and down the back of Rei's shirt, instead. "I'm following my own dream now!" And then, as if he'd been waiting for Haruka to give him an opening all along, he pointedly adds: "What about _you_ , Haru...?"

"Me...?" Haruka manages to echo, somehow, even as his mouth spontaneously shapes itself into what feels like a perfectly round little 'O' of surprise. "I'm pretty sure I just want to _swim_."

 

* * *

 

"Matsuoka," A solemn-faced Mikoshiba announces, rather unexpectedly, at the very end of his speech. "Starting tomorrow, you'll be taking over my position as the captain of this club. Take good care of it for me, y'hear...?"

Rin takes a dazed step forward. Squares his shoulders. And isn't even given any choice in the matter, of course.

"Yes, sir."

Just as a polite round of applause fills Samezuka Academy's Olympic-sized pool area, Haruka finds himself becoming increasingly aware of something he probably should've taken heed of a long time ago: at barely seventeen, the freshly appointed _'Matsuoka-buchou'_ — an alarmingly cunning (and maddeningly _broad_ , as well, these days) Omega — has already managed to grow into a much finer Alpha than anyone else on their side of the pool-deck. Including _Haruka_ , soon-to-be Iwatobi High's first α-type alumnus in over a decade, himself.

Perhaps Rin's ultimate goal is no longer quite as unattainable as it'd once seemed, then.

And while the thought of being surpassed by Rin — and being left behind (yet again), as a result — has never been a particularly pleasant one, Haruka wouldn't dream of standing in his friend's way.

_Ever_.

 

* * *

 

To a backdrop of an equally uninvited — as well as _ill-timed_ , to boot — downpour, Rin asks: "Have you guys figured out what you'd like to do after graduation yet?"

Left with no other choice, Haruka promptly returns his gaze towards Iwatobi S.C.'s empty 25-metre pool.

Steels himself.

And _lies_.

"Not really."

**Author's Note:**

> //ducks bricks
> 
> Please don't kill me. x'D I'm trying to work through this awful writer's block, I _swear_.


End file.
